Saturday, October 27, 2012

New Obama Executive Order on Homeland Security

Majia here: Governments by nature must evaluate risks and plan for contingencies. That is what responsible government does.

So, given the abysmal US responses to Hurricane Katrina, the BP oil crisis, and the ongoing sink hole crisis in LA, among other crises, I do not find it strange or objectionable that the US government is trying to coordinate "homeland security" through federal partnerships with local and state agencies and organizations. SEE ORDER BELOW

I feel that the US LACKS adequate emergency planning and crisis management.

Problems, if they occur, are most likely to derive from greedy and corrupt government contractors and/or partners, and from government bureaucracies that take scenario planning to absurd or fascistic extremes.

So, I reserve judgment on concerns that this new executive order intrinsically signals ominous centralizing intents.

One can optimistically hope that local and state partnerships will enable speedy and appropriate responses aimed at helping people in times of crises.

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the
laws of the United States of America, and in order to advance the
Federal Government's use of local partnerships to address homeland
security challenges, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section1. Policy. The purpose of this order is to
maximize the Federal Government's ability to develop local partnerships
in the United States to support homeland security priorities.
Partnerships are collaborative working relationships in which the goals,
structure, and roles and responsibilities of the relationships are
mutually determined. Collaboration enables the Federal Government and
its partners to use resources more efficiently, build on one another's
expertise, drive innovation, engage in collective action, broaden
investments to achieve shared goals, and improve performance.
Partnerships enhance our ability to address homeland security
priorities, from responding to natural disasters to preventing
terrorism, by utilizing diverse perspectives, skills, tools, and
resources.

The National Security Strategy emphasizes the importance of
partnerships, underscoring that to keep our Nation safe "we must tap the
ingenuity outside government through strategic partnerships with the
private sector, nongovernmental organizations, foundations, and
community-based organizations. Such partnerships are critical to U.S.
success at home and abroad, and we will support them through enhanced
opportunities for engagement, coordination, transparency, and
information sharing." This approach recognizes that, given the
complexities and range of challenges, we must institutionalize an
all-of-Nation effort to address the evolving threats to the United
States....

....

b) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the head thereof;

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals;
or

(iii) the functions of the Overseas Security Advisory Council.

(c) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and
appropriate protections for privacy and civil liberties, and subject to
the availability of appropriations.

(d) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or
benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by
any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

About Me

I am a Professor at a large public university. I study political economy and biopolitics (the politics of life). My interests are diverse but are broadly concerned with economic, social and environmental justice. I have published 5 books: Crisis Communication, Liberal Democracy and Ecological Sustainability: The Threat of Financial and Energy Complexes in the Twenty-First Century (2016); Fukusima and the Privatization of Risk (2013); Constructing Autism (2005); Governmentality, Biopower and Everyday Life (2008/2011); Governing Childhood (2010).
I also participated in an edited collection on Fukushima: Fukushima: Dispossession or Denuclearization (2014).